Nick Abbott's Journey

by Ethan CrossmanOctober 11, 2018

My name is Nick Abbott, I’m eighteen years old and I played for the Powell River Kings in the BCHL last season. I am very proud of my very close friend Ethan Crossman on dreaming on his new brand, Jagged Journey. Both Ethan and myself have faced different types of adversity through hockey and life. Anybody that has ever played some sort of sport knows how mentally and physically exhausting it can be. Anybody that has played at a high level at any sport also knows it is generally your number one priority. Since I’ve been 6 years old my whole reality has revolved around hockey.

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Unfortunately, a part of my Jagged Journey started two years before that when I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. For those that do not know what diabetes is, it is a disease where the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired. Basically meaning that I really have to watch my sugar intake and monitor it 24/7. Having that on your plate as a four year old kid was difficult, and hard to understand most of the time, but I got used to it. To this day I still face the adversity of having type 1 diabetes, but even through a very busy hockey schedule I manage it the best I can, and it doesn’t hold me back from doing anything. So since the age of four I’ve been facing some sort of adversity that most four year olds don’t have to face.

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I’m from a small fishing community located on the east coast of Newfoundland, where there isn’t much to do. So growing up I spent most of my time playing hockey, and my passion for the sport grew bigger and bigger. Being from a small isolated town I quickly began to learn that most people don’t want to see others get ahead or succeed in whatever they are doing. That there are a lot of jealous people out there. Between coaches, parents, kids, nobody wanted to see a kid excel more than the other kids. From the age of probably 10 to 14 I dealt with a lot of negative energy from the environment I was surrounded in just for playing hockey. This negative energy from these people made me the person I am today, and I’ve learned throughout my journey that adversity makes you grow as a person rather than actually setting you back.

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When I was fourteen years old my family decided the best place for me was not at home but a plane ride away in Cornwall Ontario where I attended a hockey academy. Which was a big change for me, but I was doing what I loved, every single day. I got better at hockey and had the time of my life even though I left home at a young age. I had my sites set on playing in the QMJHL, and I wanted to get drafted there when I was 15. Unfortunately I broke my wrist that year, and only played half of the games that season. I didn’t get drafted, and I was devastated, but I didn’t want to end my hockey journey there.

November the following year, I was thrilled to accepted a full scholarship to play college hockey and further my education at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. I then realized that how you handle your low times in life will define how high your high times in life really are. That is the beauty behind everybody’s Jagged Journey. That there isn’t just highs and lows in life, but how you handle these highs and lows determines on what comes next for you on your long life journey.